Jets News

Jets Journal: Roster trim

The Winnipeg Jets assigned 20 players to the training camp of the St. John's Ice Caps of the American Hockey League on Tuesday morning.

The hype of Mark Scheifele will live to see another day as Scheifele's name was not on the list. All he could do was reiterate to the media that he has to keep working his hardest if he wants to crack this lineup.

"Ya, definitely a bit of a relief," said Scheifele. "The day that they say they're going to release guys, there's a lot of anxiousness but I'm happy I didn't see my name on the list."

Just how important are these next games for Scheifele as an individual and what does he need to show in order for his name to stay on the right list - the roster list?

"I can find that next level," he said. "I think if I can get the first few shifts over with, I'll get used to the speed and the strength and the skill of all those guys. I just have to keep working hard and keep adapting."

22-year-old Red Deer, AB native, Paul Postma, will also stay in the bubble in hopes of cracking the stacked Jets blueline on opening night.

"I wasn't too, too worried about today," said Postma. "You just have to leave everything out on the ice. What happens, happens, it's not really in your control."

Postma stressed his understanding that the next two pre-season games will be two of the toughest yet most exciting he will ever play.

"They're going to be fun games, they're going to be intense," said Postma. "Teams are basically down to their full roster so they are going to be tough games. The coaches and the staff have some tough decisions to make here."

56 players remained on the roster this morning until Coach Claude Noel informed the squad that there would be a list on the wall of who was going home.

The players who remain on the 36-man roster, 20 forwards, 10 d-men, three goaltenders and three injured players, are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. That light being October 9th, the regular season - The Show. For some of these young players, they want to be in that game so bad, they'd do anything.

"Words can't really describe it," Postma smiled. "It's going to be absolutely insane. I want to be here so bad for that opening night, it's going to be an amazing night." Jets next pre-season home game is scheduled for Wednesday, September 28th at 7:30 pm against the Carolina Hurricanes. The game will be broadcast on TSN and TSN-Jets. Individual tickets are still available,